I moved to Europe from New Zealand last year and it's been great - until summer comes around and I go to the beach with my wife.

The problem is my hairy armpits, which no one has here. Everyone shaves their armpits in Europe, and I have no idea why. At first I didn't even notice, but then I ended up in a hot bus with everyone's arms lifted up, holding on to handles, and I thought "Whoah, that's weird." I'm sure there are exceptions, but since that bus trip I've noticed that all guys in Europe, both young and old all seem to shave their armpits.

Feeling self conscious I asked my wife about it and she said it's normal here, all the guys shave their armpits and I shouldn't be afraid to try it if I wanted to, but ultimately she doesn't mind and it's my choice.

So here's my dilemma. In New Zealand and Australia (and probably the USA) almost no guys shave their armpits. Every time I go up to the beaches I keep my arms down because I feel like a neanderthal compared to the locals.

I've never shaved my pits before and I'm uncomfortable about it. However I read that removing the hair would reduce body odour. I shower every day and I'm not old, so my nose works fine :) but on a really hot day I can start to smell body odour by 5pm.

So, internet what would you do in my situation. Summer's just arriving and I'm confused. Should I shave them or not?

Cheers!
:cool:

MSNik

05-05-2013 09:15 AM

Re: Shaving my armpits

Why dont you start out by trimming the hair under your arms? Youll probably need your wife to do it- but cut it shorter- instead of shaving and see how it feels for you. It will grow back, promise!

My husband has unblievable hair on his body and it drives him crazy. A few years ago I invested in laser hair removal for myself- havent shaved my legs or underarms in 2 years! And, now we have a home device which we use on his back and the back of his arms...he hasnt resorted to shaving anything yet, but we tried the "trimming the underarm" hair and he feels less self conscious.

Just a thought.

Xboxer

05-17-2013 10:28 AM

Re: Shaving my armpits

[B]Right, I finally did it. [/B] :cool:

I had a spare half hour this morning so I thought I'd go the whole hog and use some wax strips on my armpits. I thought I might as well do a "test run" before it's warm enough to hit the beach.

Unfortunately the wax strips were pretty useless and kept breaking. Either that, or the wax would come off the strip and just sit there on my armpit so I'd have to pick it all off. It was messy and annoying. I chose to use wax because my wife had an abundance of wax strips in the bathroom, and also because I don't want coarse armpit stubble growing back if I just used a razor.

Surprisingly the pain of waxing wasn't as bad as I thought. Certainly not as bad as the movies make it out to be! Yes, it was unpleasant to rip the hair out, not certainly not unbearable. The actual unpleasant part was the next 4 hours afterwards where my armpits were tingling. Again, not painful but weird feeling.

As I might have mentioned I've never done anything with the hair under my arms in my life - it's always just been [I]there[/I] but I certainly noticed when it was gone. A bit like after dental work - you notice the change, but soon you get used to it.
I guess underarm hair probably serves as some kind of anti-friction device, as I noticed the skin touching itself at first while I was walking, though you soon forget and carry on with your day.

I won't lie, it looks a little weird. I'm not old but I already have quite a hairy chest, and having baby-smooth armpits is a comical combination (I actually laughed in the mirror).

One positive thing I've noticed however after a full day is the reduction in underarm odour. I'm not making this up either. It's 7pm now and after a day of moving around in the city I can normally smell a mild bit of body odour by the end of the day from my pits. Not a bad, or strong smell, but if I put my head down my shirt at the end of the day I can notice a very faint whiff.
I wear a normal anti-perspirant deodourant and I don't sweat excessively, but since waxing my underarms this morning I can honestly say there's an approximate 50% reduction in body odour. Again, I'm not kidding. The difference is quite substantial and this part of the process I am happy with.

As for how quickly/aggressively the hair grows back? Well, we'll just have to wait and see.
Apart from the discomfort of the first few hours after plucking myself like a chicken, the body odour reduction has proven to be impressive.

I hope this offers some information to any other guys out there that find themselves wondering if/why they should de-hair their pits.
If nothing else, at least I'll fit in here in Europe!

Tionna

02-28-2014 12:20 PM

Re: Shaving my armpits

I never knew that they shaved their arm pits! I always thought that Europe was a place where they did not shave. Do woman shave their armpits?

Valentina12

03-15-2014 04:56 AM

Re: Shaving my armpits

It is interesting to me that you automatically make the jump to ‘gay’ instead of thinking it has anything to do with grooming. I am glad that you found it to be a success (with some hiccups such as the strips breaking haha) and Tionna, the women really depends – most of the women in Europe do but I have noticed that the French have a tendency for ‘natural’ growth.

MSNik

05-26-2014 07:26 AM

Re: Shaving my armpits

Xboxer,
When you way, you have to trim the hair to about 3/4 of an inch to really rip out the hair completely. Dont trim too short, or the wax wont have anything to stick to- but leaving it longer than that, youre likely to break many of the hairs instead of removing them from the root.
The tingling you experienced is not normal. Was the wax too hot? Were you using cold wax strips? if you really want this done right, there are waxing stations all over the place, where professionals are used to men having this done and will help you to get it right, painlessly!
Good luck.

SoleSearcher

02-09-2015 09:15 AM

Re: Shaving my armpits

I thought Europe was known for being hairy?

I don't shave my armpits, but I definitely trim them way down with an electric shaver with a low guard on it. I use this technique to trim just about everything down on my body.